Related Stories

A panel of independent Scandinavian scientists have concluded that recent works by the controversial Danish scientist and environmental skeptic, Bjorn Lomborg, were unscientific and of dubious value.

The Danish government asked the panel of five academics to evaluate reports from an independent environmental institute headed by Bjorn Lomborg, after a prestigious Danish scientific committee earlier this year accused the environmental maverick of scientific dishonesty - a charge he dismissed.

The 38-year-old statistician, author of the controversial book The Skeptical Environmentalist, enraged the scientific community by arguing that the dangers of global warming had been exaggerated and that trying to slow it was a waste of money.

"The panel must conclude that none of the reports represent scientific work or methods in the traditional scientific sense," the five scientists said in their report.

In his book, Lomborg said the world's forests were barely declining, few animals had become extinct lately and rivers and oceans were becoming cleaner.

Lomborg criticised the vast sums being spent on reducing pollution, arguing that the amount spent on reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be enough to provide every person in the world with access to clean water and sewerage.

The chairman of Lomborg's Institute for Environmental Valuation, created by the Danish centre-right government in 2002, said the Institute's board took note of the panel's evaluation. The Danish opposition said the institute should be closed.